George Kaiser Biography

George B. Kaiser (born July 29, 1942) is an American businessman. He is the Chairman of BOK Financial Corporation. He is among the top 100 richest people in the world and one of the top 50 American philanthropists.

Early life and career

Kaiser attended Tulsa public schools. He earned a B.A. from Harvard College in 1964 and an MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1966. He briefly considered joining the U.S. Foreign Service, but instead returned to Tulsa in 1966 to work for his father. Kaiser-Francis Oil Co. was created in the 1940s by Kaiser's uncle and parents, Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany who settled in Oklahoma. Kaiser took control of Kaiser-Francis Oil Company in 1969. In 1990, Kaiser bought the Bank of Oklahoma, N.A. from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Buying the Bank of Oklahoma landed Kaiser on the Forbes 400 wealthiest Americans. As of 2007, Kaiser's ownership interests in BOKF were worth $2.3 billion. In 2008, with an estimated net worth of around $12 billion, he was ranked by Forbes as the 20-richest person in America and the richest person in Oklahoma. In March 2009, in the face of the general world economic downturn, Forbes reported that Kaiser's net worth had dropped to $9 billion, ranking him in a tie for 43rd-richest person in the world. It has since risen to $9.8 as the markets recovered.

Personal life

Kaiser has been married twice:

• His first wife was Betty Eudene. Betty was a prominent literacy advocate volunteering more than 7,000 hours with the Tulsa City-County Library's literacy program. Betty died in 2002. The couple had three children: Philip, Leah and Emily.
• His second and current wife is Myra Block, daughter of Tulsa oilman and philanthropist, Charles Goodall, known for establishing the small cities program on the Council of Jewish Federations. The couple divides their time between Tulsa, Oklahoma, and San Francisco, California.

Kaiser is affiliated with Congregation B'Nai Emunah, the more conservative of Tulsa's two synagogues.

Philanthropy

Kaiser is listed third on BusinessWeek's 2008 list of the top 50 American philanthropists, behind Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates. Among his prominent causes is fighting childhood poverty through the George Kaiser Family Foundation; he is also a major benefactor to the Jewish community in Oklahoma, which numbers about 5,000 people. He has been notably active in the promotion of early childhood education. Kaiser's family foundation is also the largest contributor to the Tulsa Community Foundation, which Kaiser established in 1998 because of his perception that that Tulsa's historical dependence on unorganized private giving from its wealthy families was no longer effective. Beginning with gifts from seventeen local philanthropists, by 2006 this foundation had grown to become the largest community foundation in the United States, and now has approximately four billion dollars in assets.

Kaiser's family foundation funded the National Energy Policy Institute, a non-profit energy policy organization located at the University of Tulsa whose president since its inception is former Alaska governor Tony Knowles,; and whose director was former U.S. Representative Brad Carson. In January 2009, Kaiser drew attention after he told a committee of the Oklahoma House of Representatives that the state should eliminate or reduce tax incentives for the oil and gas industry, and instead use the money for health care or education programs or for tax cuts for other taxpayers.

Kaiser's family foundation was a large investor in the now-defunct Solyndra Corporation.

Kaiser is among those who have made The Giving Pledge, a commitment to give away half of his wealth for charitable purposes.

Political activities

Kaiser was a fundraiser for the 2008 presidential campaign of Barack Obama, and functioned as a campaign bundler for Obama: an individual who collects contributions to a candidate from others that are then simultaneously given to the candidate. At one 2007 event for Obama, he raised more than $250,000.

An 2011 article by Bill Allison of the Sunlight Foundation analyzed Kaiser's business activities and his use of legal tax avoidance strategies, including how during the 1980s bust in the oil industry in Oklahoma and Texas, Kaiser bought up struggling energy companies whose losses provided him with tax deductions that effectively offset his own income and left him with little or no tax liability.